Petr Shirkov, Candidate of Physics and Mathematics, an employee at the JINR University Centre, a teacher at the V. G. Kadyshevsky Physics and Mathematics Lyceum in Dubna, has become a candidate for the award “For Loyalty to Science” in the Mentor nomination in 2023.

Shortlist of the 9th All-Russian Award “For Loyalty to Science”

Petr Shirkov is an ideologist and the permanent scientific leader of the International Computer School (ICS). ICS is an educational and research programme for 5-11 grade school students, at which a special approach to education is implemented for 12-15 days. Mentors of the School do not give ready-made answers to children, as it is common for the classical education system, but organize training in the form of research work. ICS has been held since 1989 and celebrated its 35th anniversary this year. During this time, more than 2,000 children from Russia, the USA, Sweden, and other countries of the world have participated in it.

He has almost 50 years of experience in teaching, organizing, and managing educational programmes. Petr Shirkov initiated the creation of the Example centre for additional education of youth and the open educational cybernetic network, regional technical hackathons, CyberDubna robotics tournaments, such festivals of exact sciences as Special Points, Days of Physics. Dmitry Shirkov, Petr Shirkov’s father, a well-known theoretical physicist, Academician, who dedicated a lot of time to mentoring, was a grandson of Petr Makushin, a prominent figure of public education in Siberia.

Laureates and winners of the competition will be announced at the award ceremony in October. 1,213 applications from 78 regions of Russia have been submitted for the 9th All-Russian Award “For Loyalty to Science”. The Popular Science Project of the Year nomination received the largest number of applications, which is 208. The Mentor nomination, established in the Year of the Teacher and Mentor on the initiative of the Russian Academy of Education, took the second place and received 178 applications. The nomination titled The Best Popular Science Student Project received 116 applications, Science is Fashionable got 109 applications, and Protection of Historical Truth obtained 108 ones.

The award “For Loyalty to Science” has been presented since 2015 for outstanding achievements in scientific communications and popularisation of science. Its organizer is the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia, its partners are the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre, and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

It should be reminded that it is the third year in a row when JINR has been shortlisted for the award. Last year, an employee at VBLHEP JINR Sergei Merts became the laureate of the award. A year earlier, Scientific Leader of Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR, RAS Academician Yuri Oganessian received the award in the Special Contribution Made by Scientists, Journalists, Teachers, and Public Figures nomination.